Expand a Walk-In Closet

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Expanding a Walk-In Closet

Bathroom Project #3

With this project my main goal was to enlarge my closet. The bathroom had a large garden tub but it was shallow and uncomfortable so we hardly ever used it. The room also has a separate shower stall so really the tub was uneccessary. My husband helped me removed the tub which gave an added dressingroom area to the room plus allowed me to relocate the closet door and expand the width of my closet.

You see from the photo below on the left that there are two large mirrors on either wall. I removed the mirror on the left so I could relocate my closet door to that location. The mirror on the right will now serve as a dressing mirror. The end result gave me such a pretty little place with lots of natural light from the skylight above. It is so beautiful in the soft morning light. My chair in the corner gives me a private place to sit and read, or do a little needle work. It is so wonderful to have that extra space.

Before

After

Garden Tub Area Before

After Dressing Area

Another objective was to get rid of the flowery printed walls with a simplier painted wall. I prefer solid colors as a backdrop so the decor can stand out better. The color of this bathroom/dressingroom/closet is the same color as the adjoining master bedroom Birchwood White. It almost has a slight pinkish peach tone. I chose that color so that I could decorate with burgundy accents. The new room with white trims and white cabinets has a very soft pleasing feeling it sort of makes me think of peaches and cream.

Before

After

Vanity Before

Vanity After

With most DIY home remodeling projects it usually begins with tearing things apart and making a mess before the reconstruction can take place. Here is brief video for your entertainment pleasure as I began this project. Enjoy!

Removing the Garden Tub

Removing the Garden tub

Tub gone

After disconnecting the plumbing and unplugging the tub my husband helped me remove the useless tub from it's corner. There was no sence keeping it if all it was doing was ocupying space and collecting dust. Next task to challenge was to fill the holes left by the plumbing. Since plumping had been running down into those holes below the floor there was no support to just incert a peice of plywood cut the shape of the hole because it would fall straight through. You want your floor to be strong so I invented a solution. One guy told me my method was genious. Watch my video below to see just how ingenious my solution was.

How to Patch a Small Hole in the Floor

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Enlarging The Closet

The first phase of the project was extending the closet once the garden tub was removed from the room. I took the closet door off and used that opening to be the opening into the new section of closet. Then I relocated the close door around the corner where one of the large mirror hung. It is a good idea to remove all the clothes to a temporary location while doing any sort of wall repair as there will be a lot of dust for a few days. I bought the closet addition out to meet the end of the nearby linen closet. I could not go all the way up to the ceiling because there is a vent there so decided to make a storage shelf on top of the linen closet/closet addition.

I brought the closet wall out to meet the edge of the linen closet

which made the linen closet appear to built be a in rather than jutting out.

You can see that I used the existing opening of the previous door as an entrance into the closet addition.

Top View of closet shelf

Looking through the new closet addition

Painted Linen Cabinet White

The linen closet seemed to stand out in how it had been installed plus with its dark color. I decided that with birchwood white walls would not go well with the brown cabinets so I painted the cabinet white over a coat of primer. Enclosing them in with the extended closet make them appear to be built-in shelves and the white color makes them less obvious and blend in with it's surrounding much better.

Painted cabinets

Primed walls

One coat of primer helps hide the flowery print

Preventing a flowery print from showing through a coat of paint it was neccessary to prime all the walls as well. Priming paint is cheaper than custom colors. You will save money if use a primer to paint with the first coat. You want to avoid painting more than one coat of your finished custome color because two coats of custome color could get exspensive.

Finished Closet Addition

Bonus Dressingroom

In the photo above left leads to the toilet, thus the toilt paper. The shower stall is opposite the towel rack you see hanging. Around the corner on the right is a brand new bonus area which now serves as the dressing room. The door enters the walk-in closet. I laid down a smooth piece of plywood on the raw exposed floor and painted it with a faux marble finish. I still have plans to do something more with that floor.

More hanging space plus room to dress in the closet

Creating an Elegant Dressingroom

"Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all"

Before

After

Before View from Closet

After Dressed up Mirror

Adding a simple wood braid accent dressed up the plain mirror

Decorating is the most enjoyable part of any home remodeling project. Well, after all those flowery walls were hidden under a lovely shade of birchwood white paint I had fun with this room because it is my special place, my little retreat. This is one place I can pull out all the feminine touches because well, it's a dressroom. The large mirror was as plain as could be with a dull uninteresting frame. I added a wooden braided trim, then a shelf above the mirror held by antiquiced wrought iron shelf brackets. Above on the shelf displays my pretty Victorian Hat boxes that hold my curlers, infinity scarfs, and other feminine accessories. See my video below how I added the decorative braid to my mirror.

Draw on Glass, Mirrors or any Porous Surface

Oh, and then I had so much fun with Chalkola Chalk Markers to draw on the mirror. As a successful YouTube creator I was sent the markers for free to test them and make a review video. They were just thing to add more accents to my dressingroom mirror. I just love scrolls and swirls! Below is that video Review to inspire you with even more creative ideas. I even had a little fun just the video with these cool markers. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Back to the serious stuff of decorating.

Wrought Iron Shelf Bracket

Decorative Mirror Accents

Pretty Hat Boxes hide the clutter

My Victorian Hat boxes hide the clutter of my colections of curlers, hair accessories, infinity scarfs, and other random things that would only clutter up the space. Concealed inside the boxes they become a fashion statement that accents the room. Below is what I did with the space above the new closet addition. In these boxes are hidden winter hats, summer hats, greeting cards, love notes, craft supplies and other random things I wouldn't want on display but hidden within the pretty boxes they are beautiful accents to the room and become part of the decorations, color accents, and fit the theme of Victorian/Parisian/NewYorkish style, if there is such a style. Doesn't matter it pleases me and that is what counts.

Creative Storage Above the Closet

Here are a few more decorative touches I added to my special dressingroom.

A comfortable chair well lit by sunlight

A marbletop table for more accessories

Elegant Towels Hanging

Antiqued Oval Mirror between Candle Sconces

There is Still So Much More to Come on this Project!

This page is still under construction. Please come back later.

More details and cool tips to be added soon.

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